The Main Squeeze had a slightly spooky moment when she opened her Instagram app this morning. Last night, she'd been noodling around looking for a holiday place to stay. Now, near the top of her stream, there was the exact same place she had spent most time looking at, in a "sponsored" post.

I've always said that I would pay for the kind of experience I want, but that alas this would be trivial compared to what Instagram makes from advertisers, based on nothing more than a gut feeling. So I went off to check on that feeling.

Instagram Revenue and Usage Statistics 2018 says that advertising revenue is set to reach $6.84 billion in 2018. Instagram by the Numbers says that 800 million people use Instagram each month. I have no idea how reliable either number is, and I don't care. The simple conclusion is that each person would have to pay $8.55 a year to equal whatever Instagram gets a year from revenue.

I would happily pay $12 a year for an ad-free, chronological timeline. And I know, for a fact, that advertisers are getting absolutely nothing of substance from me.